Paper web slitter



Oct. 13, 1964 R. E. WATTS PAPER WEB SLI'ITER Filed Dec. 4, 1961 m 5 m 029 2 I 0. 4! 3 0 3 2 2 IO 7N. 4 4, W M F 3. E p g .Bv .Wu 3 m R 0 a l a g0 M M ll; (I. o a H. a 70 0 o 1 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,152,500PAPER WEB SLITTER Russell E. Watts, Dallas, Tex., assignor to Fleming &Sons, Inc., Dallas, Tex., a corporation of Texas Filed Dec. 4, 1961,Ser. No. 156,835

6 Claims. (Cl. 83-302) 7 This invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in paper web slitters and more particularly to means forcleaning the slitted edges of paper webs.

In the production of paper of narrow widths, it is customary to conductpaper of wide widths through a cutting or slitting machine having aplurality of cutter blades or slitter wheels for slitting the paperlongitudinally as it is unwound from a roll and wound in another roll.This slitting of the paper creates a considerable amount of loosefibers, fuzz or hairs on the slit edges which are objectionable andinterfere with the subsequent use of the narrow paper webs,particularly, when said paper is fibrous and of the type employed in themanufacture of spiralled cylinders and tubes. When glue or otheradhesive is applied to the narrow webs, the loose fibers are removedfrom the slit edges by the applicator and collect in the adhesivecontainer or glue pot whereby it is necessary to frequently clean saidcontainer with consequent waste of adhesive, loss of time and increaseof labor. Heretofore, the loose fibers have been removed from the slitedges of the narrow paper websby compressed air, suction, sanding orbrushing after said webs have been wound in rolls. Manifestly, thismethod of cleaning is inefiicient and expensive.

Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide improved meansfor economically cleaning the slit edges of paper webs during thecutting thereof so that said edges are free from loose fibers, fuzz orhairs.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus forcleaning the slit edges of paper webs be removing the loose fibers fromsaid edges immediately after cutting of said paper webs and beforewinding thereof in a paper slitter.

A particular object of the invention is to provide an improvedapparatus, of the character described, wherein a plurality of circularcleaning blades having sharp teeth on both sides of their peripheralportions are mounted in the planes of the slitter wheels of a paperslitter and are rotated relative to the paper webs whereby the teethengage the slit edges of said webs and strip loose fibers therefrom.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus,of the character described, wherein the rotary cleaning blades are ofgreater width than the slits between the paper webs so as to ensure thestripping of fibers from the edges of both webs adjacent each slit.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus, ofthe character described, wherein the teeth of each cleaning blade areformed by diagonally slotting the periphery of the blade so as todispose the same number of teeth on each side of said blade and topermit reversal of said blade when its teeth become worn.

A construction designed to carry out the invention will be hereinafterdescribed, together with other features of the invention.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of thefollowing specification and by reference to the accompanying drawing,wherein an example of the invention is shown, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational View, partly in section, of a paper slitterhaving cleaning means constructed in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, top plan view of one of the cleaning blades andits mounting.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, transverse, vertical, sectional 3,152,500Patented Oct. 13, 1964 view, taken on the line 3-3 the blade-s,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, side elevational view of one of the blades, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, plan view, taken on the line 55 of FIG. 4.

In the drawings, the numeral 10 designates the frame of a paper slitterhaving a horizontal shaft 11 at its lower, rear portion for supporting aroll 12 of paper to be slit and means 13 at its upper portion foradjustably supporting and winding the paper in rolls 14 after it hasbeen slit. The construction of the adjustable supporting and windingmeans 13 is more or less conventional. In traveling through the slitterfrom the roll 12 to the rolls 14, the paper web 15 passes over a rearroll 16, beneath a pair of contiguous rolls 17 and then around a frontroll 18 which are rotatably mounted on the frame 10. A plurality ofcircular, cutter blades or slitter wheels 19 is rotatably mounted on theframe below and forwardly of the front roll 17 with the peripheries ofthe wheels engaging said roll for longitudinally slitting the paper web15 as it passes therebetween. The slit web travels beneath and thenover, or around, the roll 18 to the rolls 14. Although only one of theslitter wheels 19 is shown, it is noted that any suitable number thereofmay be employed. As pointed out hereinbefore, the slit edges of thenarrow paper webs are fuzzy and have loose fiber-s or hairs which causeclogging of the glue pots when glue or other adhesive is applied to saidwebs in the manufacture of spiralled cylinders and tubes.

In order to remove the loose fibers from the slit edges of the narrowpaper webs, a horizontal shaft 20 is rotatably mounted on the frame 10above the web 15 and between the rolls 17 and 18 for supporting aplurality of circular, cleaning blades 21 in the vertical planes of theslitter wheels 19. One cleaning blade 21 is provided for each slitterwheel and has a portion of its periphery in alinement with a portion ofthe periphery of the wheel. An endless belt and pulley drive connection22 extends between the shaft 20 and an electric motor 23 for rotatingthe cleaning blades in a clockwise direction counter to the travel ofthe lower flight of the web 15 or in the same direction at a speedgreater than said travel. The cleaning blades are of greater diameterthan the slitter wheels and each blade is in the form of a flat diskhaving an axial opening 24 of relatively large diameter (FIG. 4). Acircular hub 25 is provided for mounting each blade 21 on the shaft andthe blades may be spaced apart in any suitable manner, such as bycylindrical spacers or sleeves 26 confined on said shaft between thehubs (FIGS. 2 and 3). Manifestly, the spacing between the blades iscontrolled by the length of the sleeves 26.

Each blade 21 is of greater thickness or width than the peripheral edgeof each slitter wheel 19 and the slit 27 of the web 15 cut by the wheelwhereby the sides of the peripheral portion of the blade engage bothedges of said slit and spreads the same (FIG. 2). A plurality ofequally-spaced, sharp, cutting teeth or knife edges 28 and 29 isprovided on both sides of the peripheral portion of the cleaning bladeby a plurality of diagonal, radial slots 30 and 31 cut in saidperipheral portion. As shown most clearly in FIG. 5, the slots 30 extendat substantially right angles to the slots 31 therebetween so that theknife edges 28 of one side of the blade are staggered or offsetrelatively to the knife edges 29 of the opposite side. The slots extendat angles of approximately 45 relative to the axis of the blade wherebythe knife edges remain sharp upon wear of the lateral surfaces of theblade. Also, oppositely-directed knife edges 32 and 33 are prow'ded bythe slots 30 and 31 between the edges 29 and 28, respectively, wherebythe blade is reversible.

of FIG. 1, showing two of In operation, the cleaning blades 21 arerotated counter to the travel of the lower flight of the paper web 15 orin the same direction at a speed greater than said travel. The shaft 20is positioned so that appreciable portions of the knife edges 28 and 29of the blades project through and below the slits 27 of the Web as shownin FIG. 3. The knife edges engage the edges of the slits and strip loosefibers, fuzz or hairs therefrom whereby said slit edges aresubstantially clean and smooth and the narrow webs of paper are readyfor use when wound in rolls as shown at 14. In order to ensure uniformcleaning of the slit edges of the paper web, a horizontal member or bar34 may underlie the narrow webs between the roll 18 and cleaning blade21 so as to support said webs in a common horizontal during the cleaningof said edges.

The foregoing description of the invention is explanatory thereof andvarious changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in thedetails of the illustrated construction may be made, within the scope ofthe appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination in a paper web slitter having at least one rotatableslitting wheel and wherein a paper web is fed from a roll, slit by theslitting wheel and rerolled on at least one re-roll roll, the slittingwheel being disposed intermediate the rolls, of means for cleaningsimultaneously both slit edges of the slit paper Web including at leastone rotatable circular blade having. a port-ion of its periphery alinedwith the periphery of the slitting wheel, knife edges on both sides ofthe peripheral portion of the blade and disposed each in a planeextending at a right angle to the axis of rotation of said blade forengaging the slit edges to strip loose fibers therefrom as the paper webmoves from the slitting wheel into engagement with said blade, and meansfor rotating aid blade to establish relative movement between said bladeand the paper web to effectuate said loose fiber stripping action.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein the knife edges areequally spaced and the knife edges on one side of the blade arestaggered relative to the knife edges on the opposite side of saidblade.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a member adjacent thecircular blade and extending transversely of the periphery thereof forsupporting the slit paper web in a common plane to ensure uniformcleaning of its slit edges.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein the circular blade is ofa thickness greater than the space between the slit edges of the slitpaper web so as to ensure the stripping of fibers from both of saidedges.

5. The combination set forth in claim 1 wherein the knife edges of theblade are formed by diagonal slots in the periphery of said blade andextending entirely thereacross.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 wherein the diagonal slots ofthe blade extend at substantially right angles to adjacent slot and atangles of approximately to the axis of said blade.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 29,982Mason Sept. 11, 1860 33,260 Moller Sept. 10, 1861 283,372 Brainard Aug.21, 1883 417,854 Berry Dec. 24, 1889 1,651,305 Wagner Nov. 29, 19272,382,257 Ramsay Aug. 14, 1945 2,400,527 Aycock May 21, 1946 2,465,058Burkett Mar. 22, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 894,763 Germany Oct. 26, 1953777,891 Great Britain June 26, 1957

1. THE COMBINATION IN A PAPER WEB SLITTER HAVING AT LEAST ONE ROTATABLESLITTING WHEEL AND WHEREIN A PAPER WEB IS FED FROM A ROLL, SLIT BY THESLITTING WHEEL AND REROLLED ON AT LEAST ONE RE-ROLL ROLL, THE SLITTINGWHEEL BEING DISPOSED INTERMEDIATE THE ROLLS, OF MEANS FOR CLEANINGSIMULTANEOUSLY BOTH SLIT EDGES OF THE SLIT PAPER WEB INCLUDING AT LEASTONE ROTATABLE CIRCULAR BLADE HAVING A PORTION OF ITS PERIPHERY ALINEDWITH THE PERIPHERY OF THE SLITTING WHEEL, KNIFE EDGES ON BOTH SIDES OFTHE PERIPHERAL PORTION OF THE BLADE AND DISPOSED EACH IN A PLANEEXTENDING AT A RIGHT ANGLE TO THE AXIS OF ROTATION OF SAID BLADE FORENGAGING THE SLIT EDGES TO STRIP LOOSE FIBERS THEREFROM AS THE PAPER WEBMOVES FROM THE SLITTING WHEEL INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID BLADE, AND MEANSFOR ROTATING SAID BLADE TO ESTABLISH RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN SAIDBLADE AND THE PAPER WEB TO EFFECTUATE SAID LOOSE FIBER STRIPPING ACTION.